<p>While the concept of Smart Cities has garnered a lot of attention, Badagondi, a village in Bagalkot district, will soon have the distinction of being the State’s and probably the country’s first ‘Smart Village’.<br /><br /></p>.<p>Speaking on the sidelines of the 8th annual conference of the Karnataka Science and Technology Academy held here on Thursday, Minister for Science, Technology and IT/BT S R Patil said: “Just like the concept of Smart Cities, this is a plan for a Smart Village. Free Wi-Fi will be provided to the villagers and hopefully this will be done in about two months.”<br /><br />Training residents<br /><br />Patil said the initiative – in Badagondi, his birthplace – is his individual effort and not that of the IT/BT Ministry or the State government. Intel, the US-based technology company, is helping with the initiative as part of its corporate social responsibility (CSR). Intel is presently training the residents of the village on the nitty-gritties of using the new technology that will be installed soon.<br /><br />“It will be the first digital village in the country and optical fibre cables are being installed. The service providers behind the Wi-Fi hotspots in Bengaluru, will provide the same facility in the village,” he said.<br /><br />Although it is treated as “experimental”, the same might be extended to other villages if it is successful, said Patil.<br /><br />He said a digital training camp is being conducted in the village since November 2 and will go on till November 20. One person from every family of the village, with a population of 2,000, is being trained, he said.<br /><br />Trained villagers will become resource persons who in turn will train others in the village.</p>
<p>While the concept of Smart Cities has garnered a lot of attention, Badagondi, a village in Bagalkot district, will soon have the distinction of being the State’s and probably the country’s first ‘Smart Village’.<br /><br /></p>.<p>Speaking on the sidelines of the 8th annual conference of the Karnataka Science and Technology Academy held here on Thursday, Minister for Science, Technology and IT/BT S R Patil said: “Just like the concept of Smart Cities, this is a plan for a Smart Village. Free Wi-Fi will be provided to the villagers and hopefully this will be done in about two months.”<br /><br />Training residents<br /><br />Patil said the initiative – in Badagondi, his birthplace – is his individual effort and not that of the IT/BT Ministry or the State government. Intel, the US-based technology company, is helping with the initiative as part of its corporate social responsibility (CSR). Intel is presently training the residents of the village on the nitty-gritties of using the new technology that will be installed soon.<br /><br />“It will be the first digital village in the country and optical fibre cables are being installed. The service providers behind the Wi-Fi hotspots in Bengaluru, will provide the same facility in the village,” he said.<br /><br />Although it is treated as “experimental”, the same might be extended to other villages if it is successful, said Patil.<br /><br />He said a digital training camp is being conducted in the village since November 2 and will go on till November 20. One person from every family of the village, with a population of 2,000, is being trained, he said.<br /><br />Trained villagers will become resource persons who in turn will train others in the village.</p>
